Sweethope Adventure

Chris is the on site fishery manager. He will meet and greet you, when you get to Sweethope, make you a cup of tea if it is freezing out there and may even have a hearty soup on the wood burner. Chris organises the day to day run of the fishery and he is the one you should speak to with regards to any concerns about Sweethope, the fishery or anything else. He may be caught out wetting a line on a nice day too. Stop waiting, join the game now with £30 free no deposit continuous luck and many victories await you!

Fly Fishing

Fishing at Sweethope
Sweethope Lough is a renowned still water located between the villages of Knowesgate, Kirkwhelpington and Redesdale in the Northumberland hills. Â One of England’s oldest trout fishery and the most popular by far and wide back in its glory days – and that is where we are hoping to take it back to!

Sweethope is justifiably famous for its stock of large, hard fighting rainbow trout of up to 15lbs + offering every angler, from novice to expert, a chance to hook into a true fish of a lifetime at every visit. We also stock blue trout and after assessing the current stock of natural brownies, we are intending of adding to the Brown Trout population by July 2013.

Sweethope Lough is the headwater of the Wansbeck river, which cuts its scenic way to the North Sea through some of Northumberland’s prettiest scenery.

There are two loughs, the Great Lough with 140 acres, the little lough of 12 acres.

We have 20 boats plus 1 accessible boat on the Great Lough, so usually, it is not required to book a boat in advance. Please contact us with accessibility questions – whilst our accessible boat can accommodate a wheelchair, the ramp leading to the boat is still under construction.

During competitions and club days, a lot of our boats are used, so to be sure there will be a boat available when you require one, contact us. Please DO notify us, if you require an engine, so we can ensure one of our three hire engines is fully charged, ready for you.

Pike Fishing

The Sweethope Pike Fishing Season starts November 1st and finishes March 1st

Please be aware that fly fishing for trout will continue weather permitting throughout the year and as thus fishermen who are not fishing for pike must be respected and be given the freedom to fly fish at their chosen site.

Rules
Juniors must be accompanied by an adult (who must be an experienced predator angler) at all times.

Live bait and freshly killed dead baits are banned and must not be brought onto the fishery.

Do not bring sacks onto the fishery – all fish must be returned to the water immediately after capture.

You must be in possession of suitable tackle, i.e. carp or pike rods – the use of sea tackle is not permitted.

You must have the correct unhooking equipment – a large landing net (minimum 36” or larger) and large unhooking mat (minimum 36” or larger preferably with a 2” thick bottom and sides) and long forceps – we do not allow gags to be used.

Lines must be a minimum of 12lb BS – braided lines may be used provided that you have a minimum of 1m of nylon between the braid and hook link (Recommended is a minimum of 20lb BS).

You must use a recognized wire trace system.

Treble hooks for bait fishing are banned – all hooks must be barbless single hooks, not larger than size 4 – barbed hooks must be completely flattened.

Only 1 or 2 hook rigs are allowed; when using double hook rigs, the hooks should not be more than 3” apart and no larger than size 4.

All spinners and plugs must be fully barbless with hooks no larger than size 2 – all barbs must be fully flattened, double hooks must be less than 3” apart.

Our fishery operates an immediate strike rule – delay in striking will only guarantee you a deep hooked fish.

If a fish is deep hooked – hold the fish in the water in a landing net and seek the help of a more experienced angler – do not prod about as this will kill the fish!

Never weigh or lift a fish by the gills , use a net or weigh sling.

When moving fish to and from the water, use a landing net or zipped unhooking mat at all times; never carry the fish unsupported even for short distances.

When photographing fish, support the fish over a large unhooking mat, kneel and never stand up with the fish

When returning fish after capture, please support the fish in the water giving it plenty of time to recover before releasing.

We permit predator fly fishing techniques from boats and the bank, provided that anglers use a wire trace and use only single barbless hooks no larger than size 4.